A Death in the Pavilion by Caroline Dunford Read Free Book Online

against the walls. It looked as if the attic was indeed intended for habitation. I feared the worst.
    ‘Richenda,’ I hissed at her disappeared shadow. ‘Come back. Someone’s up here.’
    Nothing.
    ‘Richenda!’
    I placed my hand against the wall and began to inch along, skirting the objects I could see. Nevertheless my feet frequently came into contact with hard immovable objects. When they did, I put my hands on them and edged my way round. It would be all too easy to lose my balance. To my surprise most of the things I touched felt soft. Dust, I thought, until I felt a prickling sensation across my hand. Spider webs. Spider webs and spiders. If I never saw another attic again it would be fine by me.
    Richenda still continued on, despite my hissed implorings for her to stop. Twice I edged my way around a chimney. At least there were no open fireplaces. I moved as quietly as I could and strained my ears for any sound. I particularly listened for the creaking of the hatch, but Richenda’s footfalls echoed loudly in the darkness. If there was anyone or anything here it must surely have heard us. I begun to feel about me for a weapon. Then I heard it. The sound of a falling body.
    ‘Ooofff!’ said Richenda. ‘I think I’ve found a fireplace.’
    I made my way across as quickly as I could. Richenda lay in a pool of darkness, a combination of soot and shadow. The fireplace was modest, but I didn’t miss that a poker set stood to one side. ‘Are you hurt?’ I asked.
    ‘No. This was a ridiculous idea, wasn’t it?’
    ‘Um – yes.’
    ‘Then why in the world did you let me go ahead?’
    I said nothing, but helped pick some of the larger pieces of soot out of her hair. I was about to suggest we took advantage of our luck so far and made our escape, when the rumbling sound we had heard in Richenda’s room filled the attic. In the stillness of the night it sounded loud as thunder.
    ‘What the hell!’ said Richenda.
    ‘The chimney. It’s coming from the chimney.’
    ‘It can’t be,’ said Richenda and, before I could stop her, she grabbed the poker and stuck it and her head up the chimney. ‘Hi you!’ she cried. ‘Come down here this instant!’
    There was a rumbling, a clattering and the rushing sound of falling soot. Richenda staggered out and backwards as a creature burst out from the chimney. It squawked and shot across the room in a cloud of soot and feathers.
    ‘Pigeon,’ said Richenda, sitting down in a barely controlled fall.
    The bird, completely panicked, flapped and swooped and dived around us. I hauled Richenda to her feet (no mean feat) and pulled her back with me to the end of the attic where we had begun our adventure. I felt her shaking. ‘It’s all right,’ I said. ‘It can’t harm us.’
    ‘Pigeon,’ said Richenda again and I realised she was shaking with laughter. I opened one of the round windows and the pigeon left the building. We both sat down and gave way to mirth.
    We were laughing so loudly we didn’t hear anyone approaching until the hatch was thrown back. Muller appeared, a broken gun on one arm and a lantern in his other hand. He set the lantern down and snapped the gun shut. The look on his face was dark and thunderous.
    He pointed the gun straight at Richenda and me.

Chapter Seven

Revelations
    ‘H-h-Hans?’ stuttered Richenda.
    Muller broke the gun at once and set it down. Now I was no longer mesmerised by the weapon I was sure a moment ago was about to send me to my doom, I took in Muller’s full and rather glorious appearance. He wore a green garment, something between a smoking jacket and a dressing gown. Embroidered golden dragons swooped and dived across it. It shimmered by the light of his lantern. On this feet were matching slippers and his legs were clad in green pyjamas of a similar hue. His short brown hair, greying at the sides, without its usual hair oil, curled around his face. In this dishevelled state he looked quite the best I had ever seen